Does Trump miss having time to play golf?

Pat Cunningham

Wednesday

Oct 18, 2017 at 7:09 PM

Say what you will about Donald Trump, but you can't argue that he spends too much time playing golf. Or can you? You may recall that when Trump was campaigning for the White House, he said he wouldn't have much time for golf if he was president. He promised that he'd be too busy in the White House, tending […]

Say what you will about Donald Trump, but you can't argue that he spends too much time playing golf.

Or can you?

You may recall that when Trump was campaigning for the White House, he said he wouldn't have much time for golf if he was president. He promised that he'd be too busy in the White House, tending to the people's business, to bother chasing a little white ball around one of the courses he owns. And he faulted Barack Obama for wasting too much time on the links when he should have been hard at work at the job to which he was elected.

But that was then, and this is now:

In his first nine months as president, Trump's time on golf courses has easily outpaced Obama's and most of his other predecessors in the White House. No, he'll likely never catch up with Dwight Eisenhower, the golfingest president we've ever had, by far, but that's because he probably won't last a full term before he's kicked out of office.

The really funny thing about this situation is that Trump's staunchest admirers seem not to mind that he golfs a lot. Some of them say they don't believe he actually does.

A recent poll of Trump supporters show that most of them think media reports of his frequent trips to the links are “fake news,” as The Donald calls stories he doesn't like. And that's what's really important to the president. He seems to think that he doesn't have to worry about anything that doesn't bother his base. It all fits Trump's claim last year that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue, and it wouldn't cost him a single vote among his most rabid fans.

But, of course, most Americans are not fans of Trump. Polls show that his approval rating has been underwater all through his tenure so far. And many of us think that some of the time he spends on the golf course would be put to better use if it was devoted to homework on the issues and personalities with which he has to deal as president.